That was the Kennedy School's conclusion, in endorsing a report by an outside employment and education law firm (Kurker Paget LLP). Three Israeli students in Prof. Marshall Ganz's "Organizing: People, Power, Change" course complained that Ganz had rejected their class project proposal's description of Israel as a "Jewish democracy." (The story seems to have been broken by the Jewish Insider [Haley Cohen] on Oct. 30.) From the report:
It is undisputed that:
- When the Parties met on February 27, 2023, Professor Ganz told the Students they could not describe Israel as a "liberal-Jewish democracy" because Israel is not democratic.
- In a March 2, 2023 email, Professor Ganz wrote that the Students' statement of purpose was "not acceptable going forward," and he instructed them to revise it. In a later email that night, Professor Ganz wrote, "I cannot permit [a debate of the question of 'Jewish democracy'] to claim the very limited time and space in a class in which 116 students are enrolled to learn to practice organizing. Please find a way to describe your organizing project in terms that are respectful of others in the class." {There is no evidence that the Students intended to debate whether Israel is a democracy in the Jewish homeland. According to Professor Ganz, certain teaching fellows sought to debate this issue, which Professor Ganz rightfully stopped.}
- When the Students told Professor Ganz that they would not change their purpose, he told them they would be responsible for the "consequences" of their decision, and later clarified that by consequences, he meant "fulfillment of course requirements."
The report concluded that this violated the Kennedy School's rules related to student free speech:
